Practical Tips For Parents
Learning should be fun, as this helps it to be successful. Everything that’s fun is learnt automatically. If writing is an ordeal for children, they’ll find it difficult to be enthusiastic about it. STABILO expert Dr. Christian Marquardt provides some tips for parents on how they can support their children learning to write.
Encourage your child playfully
Parents can support children’s fine motor skills from an early age. For example, shape sorting and craft games train the movements that later help when learning to write. Children’s experiences with drawing also support the development of the fine motor skills. Colourful pens and colouring books are fun and spark children’s interest.
Allow room for creativity
It’s important to not only praise children for drawing or copying shapes exactly. When learning to write, flowing movements and shapes are at least equally as important. That’s why parents should also allow children the freedom to develop on their own. Creativity is the key: for example, drawing looping curls supports flowing writing movements.
Choose a suitable pen together
Parents and children should look for a suitable pen for school together. It should be practical – in other words, sit comfortably in the hand and have a soft grip zone, supporting a relaxed hand posture. Equally important however, is that the child likes it. A well-liked pen gets used enthusiastically.
Pay attention to the way the pen is held
When children begin to draw or write, parents should watch the way they hold the pen. The hand should be relaxed, as cramping prevents flowing movements. Tension and strain quickly lead to tired hands. Problems should be discussed together, and different grip positions and pens can be tried. Cramping is also a sign of trying to be too precise. The more rhythmical drawing or writing is, the more relaxed the hand becomes and the more fun the children have.
Provide a bit of variety
Children should not practice robotically – variety is important! Repeating letter-shapes is often not enough: the rhythm of the writing movements is just as important as the form of the letters. With flowing writing, it is rhythm that creates the shapes: the flowing writing movements made by adults, for example, have a certain ‘melody’. Parents and children should look for the rhythm of the movements together and practice these.
Address Mistakes
Learning to write does not mean avoiding mistakes. On the contrary, motor skills cannot be learned without making mistakes. Children also learn best from their mistakes: for example, to practice the right letter size, parents can deliberately use different sizes with their children. They can then talk about this together and find the right size ratio. This helps the child to understand the difference very well.
Build on your child’s ability
In order to avoid spoiling children’s fun when learning to write, it is important not just to practice what they find difficult. When practicing, they should also build on what they can already do well. This helps them expand their skills and apply these to problem areas. Balance is important.
Fall back on well-known shapes
Familiar shapes can be a good reference for letter shapes too. Many letters can be made from shapes that have already been learned. For example, an “O” has the same shape as an Easter egg, or a “P” can be a line and half a ball. Letters appear less abstract through pictorial explanations like this, and are instead understood through their connection with well-known units.